A fish farm in the heartlands | Future Food - video Dailymotion

AsiaOne

Fresh, farm to table fish, in Singapore? We checked out Our Fish Storey, a stackable fish farm located in the heart of Tampines, complete with a nearby coffee shop!  Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

Transcript

00:00Ooh, fresh seafood!

00:06But I've got fresher, follow me.

00:10The reality is that we will eat the last fish.

00:13So we've done it on land, we will do it in the sea.

00:16So how do we mitigate this?

00:17We know for a fact we will eat the last fish because that's how we are wired.

00:21So we need to provide alternatives.

00:24In this series, we'll explore how innovative technologies and local initiatives

00:29are rethinking the way we produce and consume food.

00:34Welcome to Future Food, where we explore the food production of tomorrow.

00:40We speak to Kelvin from Greenbridge Partners to get his take on fish farms.

00:46When you freeze seafood, you have to glaze it.

00:49The glazing typically is around 20-30%.

00:52Now, 30% is a lot.

00:54So let's say you ship a container of seafood to Singapore.

00:58Can you imagine the carbon footprint of shipping that container from Alaska?

01:02Because of the extra 30% weight.

01:04Exactly!

01:05So that 30% is water, so you're literally shipping water from Alaska to Singapore.

01:11So if you had that fish grown in Pasir Ris, you have the whole fish.

01:18There's no need for glazing.

01:20That's an extreme example.

01:22Actually, if you look at aquaculture,

01:24fish farming has been around for thousands of years.

01:28What has changed now is we have better technology

01:31and the water conditions are different than they are now.

01:34So now we have to have vaccines for our fishes.

01:38And then we also have specific species of sea bass,

01:44specific species of porphyrid from Prano

01:47that is able to withstand more diseases.

01:50So if you look at Singapore,

01:52Thomastic Life Sciences are now spawning.

01:55They have a little catchment area in St. John Island

01:58where they're starting to play with that.

02:00In this episode, we head to Tampines to explore fish farming in the heartlands.

02:05I'll be meeting with Aqualita to learn more about this innovative project.

02:11Right behind me is a tank in the middle of the heartlands.

02:15We literally have a coffee shop right in front of us.

02:17And I have my friend here, Brian,

02:19who will share more about Aqualita, a local fish farm.

02:23What you see behind us is Aqualita's aqua system.

02:26So basically, we have shrunken down an entire fish farm

02:30so much so that it fits inside a 20-foot container.

02:33Right now, we have about 700-800 live jade perch fishes

02:37growing ready for harvest that we can provide to the Tampines round market

02:41that's just across the street from us.

02:43Our whole concept was to provide Singapore an avenue

02:46for food security and self-reliance.

02:49So one avenue for that is growing out our own fish.

02:52But in a landlocked country like Singapore,

02:55we can't have the traditional fish farms

02:58whereby we need a big piece of land, dig big ponds,

03:01and have multiple people working on these ponds.

03:04So with the help from Temasek Foundation

03:06and our research background from Temasek Life Sciences,

03:09we managed to innovate and create what is kind of like a fish condominium.

03:13Because not only can we grow a lot of fish in one container,

03:18but it's also stackable and scalable.

03:20We can scale up the size of the farm as and when we need it.

03:23So what we hope to do here is to provide fresh fish

03:27for the markets to sell to the people of Tampines.

03:30The idea being, if we can grow the fish as close to the market as possible,

03:34it's very fresh, it's cheaper for the fishmongers

03:37because they don't have to pay for air freight, transportation, freezing.

03:41And also, I think we can work with the Tampines round market fishmongers

03:45in the sense they can anticipate what kind of fish

03:48they would like to sell in the upcoming seasons.

03:50For instance, Chinese New Year is coming

03:52and they want to grow a certain kind of fish.

03:54They can inform us and we can actually work together with them

03:56to grow out the fish they want.

03:58Wow, this sounds like an amazing concept.

04:00Literally farm to table.

04:02Never thought I'll see this in Singapore.

04:04The freshness of all of that.

04:05That is the idea.

04:06I think end of the day, that is what Aqualita is meant to do.

04:09We're supposed to create a source of food security

04:11and self-reliance for Singapore.

04:13So how often do you harvest the fish?

04:15Right now, we do a harvest every week.

04:17So the fish that we grow here is available for purchase

04:20in the Tampines round market every Saturday and Sunday.

04:23Currently, we are growing this fish called the Jade Perch.

04:26It is an Australian fish that is not common in Singapore.

04:29But Aqualita decided why not try something new with our new system.

04:33This fish has a very high omega-3 fat content

04:37which is a positive kind of a health trait that we want to see in our fish.

04:42It is quite similar in terms of omega-3 content

04:46to other well-known sources like salmon.

04:48And it's a very resilient freshwater fish as well.

04:52So I think that works well with us because we are testing out the system

04:55in the Tampines, a resilient freshwater fish is also easier for us to rear right now.

05:00So what are Aqualita's primary goals?

05:02Since we have established a working prototype in the heartlands,

05:05our goal will be to expand beyond just having one Tampines site

05:09into multiple regions in Singapore.

05:12So if every different town in Singapore can have one system, it will be great.

05:16And also we are looking to expand in terms of to our neighbouring countries

05:20like to Indonesia, to Malaysia.

05:22So we can bring this concept of urbanised fish farming towards the region

05:27and hopefully increase the food production in our area.

05:30So it's more choices for Singapore.

05:32What has been the biggest challenge and how has Aqualita overcome it?

05:36I think Aqualita's biggest challenge was trying to create a farming culture

05:41and a system in Singapore where we are not a farming country.

05:44So what Aqualita's main goal was to create a modular and stackable system

05:50whereby we can scale up and scale down our farm anywhere

05:55with minimal land preparation required and also automate as much as we can.

05:59So we can minimise the amount of people that have to operate on the system.

06:03We also try to keep our entire system as sustainable and green as possible.

06:07So we minimise the electrical requirement, the input required from our system.

06:11So we don't need to have multiple pumps and blowers and whatnot in our fish farm.

06:18And we try to use our technology to create the water turning effect

06:23so that we can keep as much fish in the system as possible

06:27but we don't have to have such a big carbon footprint.

06:31Is this the only container right now in Singapore?

06:33No, we have three sites currently running.

06:36So this is one of them.

06:37We have our initial similar system back in our main office in NUS.

06:42And also we have our big AQRAS Plus system

06:45which is a combination of six tanks and one central filtration

06:48running currently in Sungai Tenah.

06:50They're all running quite successfully with different kinds of fish

06:53already tried and tested in the system.

06:56So besides Jade Perch, we have also grown successfully

07:00Sea Bass, the Hybrid Grouper, Tilapia.

07:03I think we're going to try to go on, maybe look into new kind of fishes

07:07to suit the market's needs and requirements.

07:11So Brian, what's a typical work day like here at Aqualita?

07:14I think it's easy if I show you. Come.

07:16Let's go, let's have a look. Let's catch some fish!

07:19Wow, it smells like a real ecosystem, like natural body of water out there.

07:25Smells a little bit of poo poo but not too much.

07:28How do you squeeze 700?

07:30Is this tank very deep and are they all hiding at the bottom?

07:33So I think this tank is about a metre deep.

07:37We have three compartments in this system as you can see.

07:40So we try to stagger the harvesting of the fish

07:43so that we can create a constant supply to the market.

07:46For instance, if this tank in front of me is ready for harvest,

07:50the tank next to it will probably be about two months

07:53in terms of growth schedule behind this tank.

07:55So by the time we're done harvesting tank A,

07:57tank B is ready to go to the market.

07:59And that's how we create a stream of fish for about six to seven months,

08:05which is about the time required for the fish to grow to market size.

08:09Nice. So how do you keep the water clean?

08:12Okay, the water may look black and dirty now, but actually the water is clean

08:18because what we do in this system is we use 100% recycled water.

08:23So what we do is using our technology, we create the water movement in the system

08:28where we extract the fish waste, run it through our filtration system

08:32whereby we remove the fish waste.

08:34And we also have a biological filtration which treats the water

08:38so that the water is a safe and healthy environment for the fish to continue growing.

08:42A biological filtration system?

08:44Yes.

08:45And where is that?

08:46That is right below where we are standing right now. It's below our feet.

08:49Oh wow, it's a very effective use of a very tight space.

08:52Yes, that's what I mean when I say we've shrunken down the entire fish farm

08:55into so small it fits inside a 20-foot container. I'm not exaggerating.

08:59Yeah, and it can go on wheels as well, right? Like a farm on wheels.

09:02Yes, so anytime we want to move the system, we can just drain out the water

09:06then we just crane this container onto a lorry, go to the next site.

09:10Wait, if you drain out the water, what happens to the fishes?

09:12Generally, when we change location, it means we're down at the fish harvest cycle.

09:17The fish are all harvested, so it's an empty system. Then we just drain the water out.

09:21I see. So how do you ensure that the fish are healthy?

09:25It's quite easy. Firstly, we monitor water parameters on the daily

09:28to make sure that the water quality is fine. And also, we check the behaviour of the fish.

09:33So every time when we feed the fish, we observe how active they are,

09:37how responsive they are to our feeding inputs, and we see how receptive they are

09:42every time we increase the amount of feed that we're feeding the fish.

09:44So that's a sign of fish health and activity and how happy they are.

09:49So what do you feed them?

09:50For this system, we try to feed them very basic, commercially available feed.

09:55It's the same thing other fish farmers use, because we want to demonstrate that

09:58we don't need to feed a specific kind of fish feed, then our fish can grow in this system.

10:02So in this current system, we have about 7-800 fish still within our tanks.

10:08Comparatively, if you look at a traditional fish farm RAS system,

10:12in those round blue tanks, we probably keep about 200 of them.

10:16So that's where the technology improves.

10:20So what's a typical workday like?

10:22So for my colleagues who take care of the system, it's actually very straightforward.

10:26Maybe once or twice a day for an hour or so, do the water test, check on the fish, feed the fish,

10:32that's it. It's done.

10:34Wow.

10:35So it's very efficient, so you can take care of multiple systems every single day,

10:39and we can generate more meaningful harvest with just using one guy,

10:44rather than the traditional pond whereby it's so big,

10:48all people just take care of one pond.

10:50It's going to take people the whole day just to take care of that one pond.

10:53Because they don't have that ecosystem infiltration system going.

10:56Yes.

10:57So is it time for some fish and chips?

11:00Let's catch some fish up and let you take a look at them.

11:03For a moment I thought you're not.

11:05Do you need to touch the fish or anything?

11:08I can appreciate them from a distance, yeah.

11:13Somebody help me.

11:16This wasn't in my contract. I'm scared.

11:18I stand behind you.

11:19Sure.

11:23Wow, it's very deep.

11:27So he's my human shield.

11:29Because the water is splashing like that.

11:32So here are some fish that we are growing in our container.

11:35So this is the jade perch fish that we are growing.

11:38There are about 350-400 grams now currently, which is what the market asked for.

11:44So as you can see, the fish are very active, splashing around,

11:49which is a good sign that they are healthy.

11:51They're still active.

11:52They're actually quite nice in colour.

11:54The fish is quite rounded in shape.

11:56So no injuries on the face.

11:58So there's no signs of biting in a small confined space.

12:01So yeah, it's a good sign.

12:07Today, we saw how local fish farms are essential to Singapore's food security and sustainability.

12:13By supporting these initiatives, we can contribute to a more food-secure and eco-conscious future.

12:19In our next episode, we'll venture into the heartlands to further explore how farms can thrive within our city.

12:27Thanks for joining us today, and I'll see you next time on Future Food.

12:31Bloop, bloop. Bloop, bloop. Bloop, bloop.

12:34It's so fresh. Can we eat sashimi?

12:36My producer loves to eat sashimi, right?

12:38Right? You see?

12:40I don't think this fish can be sashimi.

12:43He just turned the word sashimi into a verb.

12:45It cannot be sashimi.

12:47Cannot be sashimi.

12:48Why ah?

12:49I don't think this is a sashimi-able fish.

12:51This guy is so creative.

A fish farm in the heartlands | Future Food

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